Conspiracy Theory in Turkey: A Comparative Analysis of the 2013 Gezi Protests and the 2016 Coup Attempt

'Conspiracy Theory in Turkey' can best be described as a philosophical reflection on the Gezi and Coup

events, seen through the lens of Conspiracy theory. In particular, this means that both events are considered

by virtue of the State response thereto, which in both cases was one of the accusations of conspiracy against

the State. In order to 'compare' these two events on the level of the emergence of conspiratorial

interpretations and 'paranoid' narratives, I propose a blend of 'framing theory' (as used primarily in the

conflict analysis literature), as well as political thought on conspiracy theory (for example, Karl Popper and

Charles Pigden1), with occasional inspiration taken from literary theory (in particular, the notion of 'reading'

conspiracy for its own logics of power, rather than strictly speaking 'diagnosing' the social impact of

conspiracy, I look into the conditions from which it arises and according to what logic and narratives it is

perpetuated), critiques of post-modernism (Fredric James reading of 'contingency'2), and psychoanalytic

theory (mostly Freudian, with some Lacanian concepts borrowed from Slavoj Zizek's work). I will now

briefly break down each of these so as to explain their function within the overall thesis, keeping in mind

that they are used to enhance what is at heart a work of comparative politics; that is to say, a comparative

account of the role of conspiracy theory in the 2013 Gezi protests and 2016 coup attempt.